Can you play PS3 games that you backed up to a hdd from that hard drive?

Communities Gaming
1

i recently bought a new ps3 the 12gb, because it was crazy cheap, and i was wondering is it possible to play games from an external hard drive that you have backed up using the built in backup tool?

2

Are we talking pirated backed up games? lol

3

No, legit games that force you to install games to your hard drive, i.e little big planet 2 requires 3.2 gb of hdd space to be able to play.